Why Maharashtra has the highest number of positive Covid-19 cases in India?

India’s worst-hit state Maharashtra has registered 1,297 positive Covid-19 cases so far.

Maharashtra reported its first case of Covid-19 on March 9, a couple from Pune, who had travelled to Dubai, tested positive for Covid-19 and the next day three more people in the city who had come in contact with the couple tested positive.

It is said that although, WHO had declared an outbreak of coronavirus, these people were not screened at the Mumbai international airport as the UAE was not in the list of 12 countries for compulsory screening at airports to find any infected patients. More than 40% of the infections were those who returned from the UAE.

Experts say, If the government didn’t have adequate kits to run tests on thousands of travellers, they should have quarantined them for 14 days

Also, when the health ministry advised states to stop all transportation, the local trains and buses in the state were still running.

The state had a rigid testing policy due to which many people with symptoms were denied testing and due to the poor hygiene in a few hospitals and unknowingly getting exposed to the positive patients, around 60 medical staffs have been infected with the virus.

Also, in a few hospitals, there is lack of PPE for doctors testing patients, it is said that the doctors are using protective kits for HIV while treating Covid-19 patients in ICU or isolation wards.

However, experts are now suggesting the government to take effective measures like bringing more doctors and providing them with proper PPE to deal with the chaos.